About
**This workshop will be live streamed via Zoom.**
Have you longed to make a classic, Oxford-style button-down-collar shirt for that special someone but didn’t know where to start? Start here! If you can sew a straight line, you can sew a classic shirt with all the fixin's!
In this course, you will learn how to make knife-sharp collar points and tidy collar bands, how to match prints across center front, topstitch the yoke, attach two-piece sleeve plackets, sew cuffs that look great inside and out, and make easy flat-felled seams and rolled, curved hems. You'll discover the best interfacing for shirt sewing, efficient layout and cutting, notable notions, sewing fundamentals, how to "chunk it up" for speedy sewing order of operations, and how to choose specialty sewing feet (and know whether you need them) . . . and more!
Leah will demonstrate each part of making an entire shirt over three, 2-hour Zoom sessions. Sew along with her, or just sit back, relax, and learn. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions and watch each technique. And at the end of class you’ll have LOTS of resources: access to the recorded class plus individual, step-by-step video tutorials on Leah’s Away We Sew website, plus pdf handouts with professional, full color illustrations (a $30 value). You'll have skills to sew any kind of shirt, and you'll be confident that you can sew a classic, Oxford-style button-down-collar shirt IN A WEEKEND!
Supplies:
Choose one of these shirt patterns for the class:
- FreeSewing.org: “Simon" (men's styling) or "Simone" (women's styling)—available free online as a pdf (highly recommended!)
- Liesl Pattern Co.: “The Classic Shirt" (women's styling)—available on paper at Esther's Fabrics on Bainbridge Island
- Thread Theory: “Fairfield Button Down" (men's styling)—available on paper at Esther's
You'll also need fabric, thread, buttons, and interfacing as needed for your size, as noted on the pattern. Leah recommends ProWOVEN Shirt-Crisp interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply but any lightweight or shirt-weight interfacing you find in a fabric store or online will work.
If you're planning to join along, set up your Zoom in your cutting space and have your fabric laundered and both your interfacing and fabric ready to cut!
Note: If you go into Esther's Fabrics store, mention that you're buying supplies for this class when you check out at our partner, Esther's Fabrics, at 181 Winslow Way East, Suite D on Bainbridge Island and you'll receive a 10% discount! Esther's Fabrics has the Liesl and Thread Theory patterns in stock, plus many beautiful shirting fabrics, quilting cottons, rayons, flannels, and an excellent selection of specialty shirt buttons!
Details:
- Registration for this class will close on June 17th, 2021 (Pacific Daylight Time).
- This class will be taught via the Zoom video conferencing program. For a great video on how to use Zoom, watch this tutorial.
- A Zoom link will be sent to the email address you registered with one day prior to each session. Please watch for this email. You may need to check your spam folder for emails from BARN.
- Tuition assistance is available. Click here to apply.
- BARN reserves the right to cancel this class in the case of low enrollment and a full refund will be given.
- Ages 14+ welcome!
Instructor Bio:
Leah Boyan is thrilled to contribute to the BARN Fiber Arts Studio. She has taught online and in person at Esther’s Fabrics on Bainbridge Island. She's also a national sewing speaker, having presented at the Virtual 2020 American Sewing Guild National Convention, and several national ASG chapters, and she is scheduled to present at the 2021 National Convention. Leah started her company, A Way We Sew, to combine her two passions, sewing and thinking about sewing. She develops and teaches innovative ways to sew faster, with fabulous results, all while having fun!
